


Lance's Birthday Week

by mithrel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Blanket Permission, Families of Choice, Gen, Homesickness, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance's Birthday Week 2018, Meet the Family, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Podfic Welcome, Rating May Change, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-15 08:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: The fics I write for Lance's Birthday Week 2018.





	1. Friends/Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I kinda used both prompts for this one.

Lance misses his family.

He knows it’s selfish, knows that he’s not the only one here who’s missing Earth. Hell, Allura and Coran don’t even _have_ a home to go back to…

But he can’t help it.

The latest planet they’re on is a jungle one, not really anything like Earth, at least not _his_ part of it. But the sky is blue and the clouds are white and fluffy, and Lance can’t help but stare out the window as the head of the village makes a speech of thankfulness for their aid.

He’s jogged out of his thoughts by a sharp nudge and a “ _Psst!_ ”

He rubs his eyes, turning to glare at Pidge. “What’s your problem?” she hisses.

“Nothing!” Lance retorts, a trifle too quickly. “This guy is just really boring, that’s all!” Pidge raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t comment, as Lance forces himself to focus on the speaker.

***

The next time something reminds him of home, it’s when Hunk makes pizza rolls and garlic pretzels.

It’s not the same as what he’d get at home in Varadero, but the smell is enough to send him back to when he took Veronica to the beach for the first time and she’d demanded food before they did anything else.

Hunk notices his expression and his brow furrows. “Hey, what’s…” Then he connects it with an earlier conversation and his face immediately falls. “Oh, man. Oh man, I’m sorry, I forgot, I–“

“It’s okay!” Lance cuts him off, but he leaves the kitchen before the tears can fall, fleeing the smell that’s hooked into everything he’s lost.

***

The beach is the worst.

The sand is purple and the water slightly too green to be an Earth beach, but the salt smell is the same (why does he keep encountering smells that make him homesick?!?)

But he can’t complain, because when Allura suggested this excursion, everyone jumped at the chance and he wasn’t about to ruin their fun.

Allura and Pidge are deep in the construction of a sand replica of the Castle of Lions, Hunk is collecting seashells or whatever this beach has, Coran is investigating the tidepools…even Keith has waded out into the surf and is staring at the horizon, lost in his own thoughts.

He feels a hand on his shoulder and starts. Shiro is standing next to him, a small smile on his face. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s great,” Lance says, trying to muster up the proper degree of enthusiasm.

Shiro looks at him, brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Lance denies, even though he’s getting sick of telling the same lie. To keep Shiro from inquiring further, he splashes out in the surf to start a water fight with Keith.

***

It’s almost the final straw when they’re talking to yet another grateful populace. Lance always makes it a point to talk to at least a few people on every planet they save, to get to know them a little.

There’s a girl who looks about Veronica’s age (or at least, Lance thinks, the age she was when he left) hanging onto her mother’s hand, staring at him with wide eyes.

He gives her an encouraging smile, and her mother nudges her forward. Scuffling her toes in the dirt, she lisps “T’ank ‘oo.”

Lance’s heart melts and he kneels down so he’s on her level. “You’re welcome,” he says, smiling again. “I’m Lance. What’s your name?”

She flushes, but looks him in the eye. “Gleer.”

“Well, Gleer, I’m glad to save such a pretty girl,” he says with a wink.

She giggles, then confesses in a whisper “I wanna bea Paladin when I grow up.”

Lance’s blood freezes. On the one hand, it’s cute that Gleer sees him as a role model. On the other hand, she’s just a kid, and despite what the Galra have done to her planet, she can’t possibly understand what fighting the Galra means. Not to mention that this war has dragged on for 10,000 years, and even with Voltron it’s quite possible she’ll be old enough to fight long before it’s over.

He thinks again of Veronica as he makes some more inane small talk with her. He has no clue what’s happening on Earth. They’d sent Sam back, but hadn’t heard anything from him. Even in the best case scenario, the Garrison might not believe him–he thinks back to what they did to Shiro. In the worst…

Gleer runs back to her mother with a “Bye!” as he sees a shadow cast over him. He quickly gets up and looks over at Keith, knuckling his eyes unobtrusively. “What do you want, mullet?”

Keith, uncharacteristically, doesn’t snark back. “You okay?”

Lance bristles instinctively, the moreso at the unusual softness in Keith’s eyes. He doesn’t need pity, especially not from Keith. “I’m fine,” he spits back, and goes back to schmoozing.

***

He goes into the holo-bay to milk and feed Kaltenecker and make sure she’s doing okay fairly often, but this last mission was awful, and he’s not even paying attention to her.

The flowers aren’t like Earth, but there’s blue sky and clipped green grass he can’t stop running his hands over, even though he knows it’s not real.

He hears a noise behind him and turns to see Allura coming in.

He can’t deal with her right now. Not when he’s so raw.

But she only smiles softly when she sees him. “Lance. Do you mind if I join you? Or should I leave you to your meditations?”

And he can’t be ungracious and say “No,” not when it’s her Castle, her holo-bay, her planet.

“No, you can stay.”

She sits next to him, but doesn’t say anything. They sit in silence for a long time, and it’s nice, despite the fact that Lance can’t cry with her there.

***

Predictably, it’s the rain that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

When it started to rain on the planet they were on, Lance couldn’t help but go outside, spreading his arms and turning his face to the sky. He also can’t help but cry, but the rain hides that.

It’s a warm rain, so he’s not cold, but his clothes are getting plastered to his body–not the smartest thing, he realizes belatedly, when he only has the one set of clothes.

"Lance?”

He turns around to see Coran, the one he’d first talked about missing Earth with. His expression is understanding.

When Lance looks past him, he sees Allura and the rest of the Paladins standing there.

“Come inside,” Allura says. “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it, but we’re here for you.”

He breaks, finally, and lets them envelop him and lead him inside, toweling off his hair and giving him something hot and sweet to drink, crying unashamedly as they sit with him.


	2. Day 2: Cuba

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has the team over for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know, late, blahblah. Apologies for any butchery of Cuban food/Spanish, I attempted to research.

Lance takes a deep breath before he knocks on the familiar door.

A dog starts barking, and there’s a high-pitched yell of " _Mamá! Someone’s at the door!"_

The dog keeps barking, and he hears his mother yell, "Veronica, put Blanco in the bedroom!" A few moments later the door opens and Lance's mom stands there. They stare at each other for a long moment.

" _Hola, Mamá,_ " he says weakly, unsure what else to say.

Her face creases in a smile. "Lancito!"

Then he’s enveloped in one of the hugs that he’s been missing for four years. He lets the tears fall, knowing she’s crying too. ”I missed you, Mamá.”

She pulls him inside and Veronica and his _abuela_ come at her call of “Lancito is home!” and there’s another round of hugs and tears.

“Are Marco and Luis at work?” Lance asks, and his mother nods.

“They’ll be here, later. They’ll be so glad you’re home, Lancito!”

Lance hesitates, not sure how to tell her the truth. ”I…I can’t stay, Mamá. We’re just here to resupply, there’s still a war on...”

She waves him off. ”I know. Dr. Holt gave me your message, I know you are doing important work, Lancito. We are glad to have you home for however long you are here.”

He relaxes.

“ _Mijo_ , I am so _proud_ of you!”

Lance rubs the back of his neck. ”So, the team is here. You know Hunk and Pidge...oh, Pidge is actually a girl, by the way–”

“No _way!_ ” Veronica puts in. He...might have complained about Pidge a lot when he first met her.

Lance coughs. ”Uh, yeah, long story. Anyway, the rest of the team is here, staying in a hotel, there’s...” He pauses to count mentally, “Eight of them. And–”

“You must tell me all about them!” his mother says.

“Would you like to meet them? I mean, I know there’s a lot, but what about having them over for dinner?”

His mother tuts. ”You are afraid I cannot make enough food?”

“ _No_ , mamá, I just didn’t want to overwhelm you!” He knows full well she can make enough food, since even for normal meals they always have leftovers.

“Overwhelm, ha! Have them here at 6:00 on Saturday.”

There’s one other problem. “Yeah, um...some of them aren’t...exactly...human...”

“Oh? Tell me?”

***

After nearly three hours talking to his family, Lance calls the hotel.

“Yeah?”

Lance rolls his eyes. “Keith, who let you answer the phone?”

“Well, the Alteans don’t know how, and I’m not sure my mom remembers either. Shiro’s sleeping and Hunk and Pidge are on a food run.”

“Okay, okay, fine. Speaking of food, my mom wants to have you all over for dinner on Saturday.”

There’s a pause, then Keith says “ _All_ of us?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I warned her about the Alteans and your mom. You’ll have to deal with my nieces and nephews bombarding you with questions, but do you wanna come?”

Keith hesitates again, and Lance wonders if he’s trying to think of an excuse not to go. ”I’ll have to talk to them about it.”

“So call me back,” Lance says impatiently, and gives Keith his number.

***

Lance has been helping make food all day. The picnic table in the backyard has been cleaned off, since it’s the only one that will hold all of them. Marco is bringing his girlfriend, and Luis has his wife and their three kids, plus Lance, Veronica, his mom and his _abuela,_ that will be nineteen people.

He’s briefed his family on all of them, and made Veronica and his nieces and nephews promise to behave (although given all the questions he’s already had to field, he’s not holding his breath.) They’re currently supposed to be setting the table, but from the sounds Alejandro and Jorge are sword-fighting with the silverware.

Lance puts the _tachinos_ on the table, confiscates the butter-knives, slaps each of his nephews lightly on the back of the head and motions them to help Veronica and Dia, who are at least attempting to do what they were told.

When Lance comes back with the rice and black beans the table is mostly set, so he shoos Veronica and Dia inside to help bring out the rest of the food.

The table is just set when the doorbell rings. Blanco goes nuts, barking his head off.

“Veronica!” Lance bellows, grabbing hold of the dog’s collar, “You were supposed to put Blanco away!”

“I was setting the table!” she retorts, but takes the dog from him. Blanco is fine with guests once they’re here, but tends to jump if he meets people at the door.

Once the bedroom door shuts, Lance takes a quick breath, smoothes down his shirt and opens the door.

There’s a crowd of people outside, Shiro in the front. He squints, but can’t tell if they’re all there in the dim glow of the porchlight.

“Come on in,” he says, feeling oddly shy having them in his house.

His mother is in the living room, and he makes hasty introductions.

“Mamá, this is Shiro.”

Shiro smiles at her and hands her a bottle of wine, because of course he brought one. The rest of the family trails in as he continues.

“You know Pidge and Hunk, this is Keith.”

“Hey.”

“And Allura, Coran, Romelle and Krolia.”

There’s a chorus of _whoa_ from the four kids as the Alteans resume their normal appearance and Krolia lets down her deep hood, but his mother just smiles at them.

Lance introduces the rest of his family, and they go outside.

***

After his mother says grace, there’s not much talk at first except for Shiro and Hunk complimenting the food. Lance warned his mother that Shiro only had one arm, so she’d made sure that part of each dish was cut into small pieces, which the others left by unspoken consent. He’d also made sure to avoid cheese, which had led to the milkshake story (Kaltenecker is staying at the Garrison temporarily).

They let Blanco out, and he’s currently drooling on Keith’s thigh. Lance tries not to snicker.

Of course, the kids don’t behave for long.

“Are you really an alien?” Dia asks Keith. ”You don’t look like one.”

Keith chokes on his spoonful of beans.

“Dia! Manners!” his _abuela_ says.

“What? He _doesn’t!_ “

“I suppose, _technically_ , I’m half alien,” Keith says, once he’s cleared his airway.

“And she’s your mom?” Alejandro asks, pointing to Krolia, who nods.

“Is that why you have that mark?” Dia asks, and Lance winces.

Keith puts a hand to his cheek self-consciously. ”Ah...no...I got that...another way.”

Fortunately, Veronica changes the subject by asking Allura how she changed color, and they all jump on that. Pidge smirks, since some of the questions are very familiar, but Allura is nothing but polite.

“And you’re really a princess?” Dia asks.

“Yes, I am.”

“Are you married to a prince?”

Lance winces again. He’s told his brothers and _abuela_ about most of what happened, but the kids got the PG version.

“Ah...no, I’m not married.”

Shiro’s finished his _vaca frita_ , and when he reaches for more Keith serves up some for him, cutting it into small pieces. From the way Shiro grits his teeth Lance figures they’ll be having Words later.

“So did you bring your Lions?” Marco asks, a poorly-concealed glint in his eye.

“No, actually. They’re back at the Garrison, we’ll pick them up when we’re ready to leave.”

There’s a chorus of _Awwww!_ from the kids, but Lance still hears the muttered “We’d better,” from Keith. He hasn’t forgotten how they treated Shiro.

“What’s it like to fly a Lion?” Jorge asks, which leads into each of them talking about how they found their Lions, including Hunk and Lance’s indignation when they hear the real story of how Pidge got her Lion.

“And then I almost got sucked–”

Lance kicks Keith under the table.

“Er, I mean, then the Lion activated and we defeated the soldiers,” he amends, glaring at Lance.

“And once we had all the other Lions, the Black Lion activated,” Shiro finishes.

Lance and Luis help his mother clear the table then, and he brings out the _pastelitos_ for dessert.

As he sits down, Hunk and Pidge are finishing the story about how they put the heat shield back together, with Shiro putting in a word occasionally. All the kids’ mouths are hanging open.

“You’ll catch flies,” Luis says, and all four of them close their mouths sheepishly.

There’s more compliments on the food, then they all lean back in their chairs and watch the stars for awhile, Lance thinking with dread on the day they’ll have to leave, then Shiro eventually makes “we-should-get-going” motions and they all go back inside.

Lance steps outside with them as the autocabs pull up, abruptly nervous again. ”So what’d you think?”

Allura smiles, “Your family is lovely, Lance.”

“Yes, lovely people!” Coran agrees.

“I like your dog,” Keith says, and Lance cracks up laughing.


	3. Day 3: Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance bonds with the Red Lion.

He’s still not used to the Red Lion. Oh, he can fly her, he’s adjusted his reflexes to her faster speed and tighter turns, but his bond with her is weak.

The others are having no trouble. It took Allura awhile to connect with Blue, but now they’re a well-oiled machine. Keith has, if not accepted his role as the Black Paladin, at least resigned himself to temporarily taking Shiro’s place.

Lance is the only one who isn’t happy with the switch.

Bonding with Blue was easy; he’d felt an instinctive connection even before he knew what she was. Blue had a sense of humor, was always willing to encourage him or comfort him when he was homesick.

Red is cold in comparison.

He remembers the bottom dropping out of his world when Blue rejected him with no warning. He knows, logically, why they did it, knows why the Lion swap was necessary. They needed a Black Paladin. He just doesn’t know why he was one of the ones who had to change. Whatever Allura says about valuing a strong team over his own glory, he still doesn’t think that’s a qualification.

They have some downtime so he’s trying– _again_ –to bond with the Red Lion, sitting in the cockpit with his head in his hands, concentrating furiously. So far all he’s gotten is an occasional flicker at the back of his mind.

_What do you want from me?!_

A flicker of impatience. Nothing like what he’d get from Blue.

Suddenly he gets the strongest reaction he’s gotten so far, a combination of a mental slap upside the head and being doused with cold water.

And suddenly, he thinks he gets it. Allura never had a bond with a Lion before, and Keith has accepted that, at least for now, he’s the Black Paladin. Lance has been clinging to a bond that doesn’t exist anymore, and in the process, must have been subconsciously blocking his bond with his new lion. Practically every thought he’s had about Red was comparing her to Blue and finding her lacking.

Lance takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and steels himself. _Goodbye, Blue. I’ll miss you._

Then, for the first time, he opens himself to the Red Lion.

What he gets is impatience, a feeling that he’s a bit slow, and too inclined to wallow in his hurt feelings.

Angry, Lance shoots back _Then why did you even pick me?_

This time it’s not emotions, but a flood of images.

_Himself with Hunk and Pidge, sitting on the roof of the Garrison. “What we need is a distraction.”_

_Him and Keith in the hangar above the Balmera, as he pulls Keith back from attacking. “Whoa, whoa-whoa-whoa, cool your jets, Keith! Don't you remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"_

_"Oh. Right."_

_"Yeah, so we can't just blow things up like a psycho."_

_"Oh, you got a better idea?"_

_"I do. We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."_

_"That... actually... is a better idea."_

And later, during the fight,

_"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something!"_

_"Well, we can't shoot back! It'll just make it worse," and the subsequent plan._

_Shoving Coran aside as the bomb goes off._

Potential. Apparently that’s what the Red Lion sees in him. And Lance hates nothing more than people saying he’s got “potential,” because outside of his family no one’s ever believed in him, and “potential” is just a nice way of saying you suck now.

He was just an average student, always struck out with girls, and barely kept his head above water at the Garrison, not to mention the humiliation of being made a _cargo_ pilot.

Red gives him another mental jolt and he scowls. There’s a quick replay of the scenes in his head again, with more added.

“Alright, alright fine, you win, I’ve got potential!”

Red’s answering purr is decidedly smug.


End file.
